Many changes have been made in the field of heat treating of metal castings and reclaiming sand from sand cores and sand molds used in the manufacture of metal castings. The sand core and/or sand mold (referred to hereafter as “sand core”) comprise sand held together by a binder material such as, but not limited to, a combustible organic resin binder. Examples of systems for heat treating castings, removing sand cores, and reclaiming sand are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,294,094, 5,354,038, 5,423,370, 5,829,509, 6,336,809 and 6,547,556, each of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Heat treating, core removal, and sand reclamation technology is driven by, for example, competition, increasing costs of raw materials, energy, labor, and waste disposal, and environmental regulations. Those factors continue to mandate improvements in the field of heat treating and sand reclamation.